NAIC Call For Climate Change Data Modified

GRAPEVINE, TEXAS–A proposal by insurance regulators, that met stiff insurer opposition, to have carriers include data related to climate change impacts in their Annual Statements has been modified, trade groups said.

Insurance organizations attending the National Association of Insurance Commissioners winter meeting here said a compromise on the issue may be in place for 2009.

Representatives of the American Council of Life Insurers, Washington; the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, Indianapolis; and the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI), Des Plaines, Ill., said a new direction for filing such data could be established during a conference call of the Climate Change and Global Warming Task Force on Dec. 17.

The latest draft of the survey of climate change items was made public on Dec. 3. The document after the conference call would move out of the task force chaired by Wisconsin Insurance Commissioner Sean Dilweg and could possibly be voted on by the NAIC's executive committee by year end, the groups said.

Insurers' representatives said they are pleased that the new survey will not be part of the annual statement filing requirement, but rather a separate survey.

According to Robert Detlefsen, NAMIC vice president of public policy, insurers will have to respond to eight questions and provide them to the regulator in the company's domiciliary state. And, if a company has a number of subsidiaries, the regulator of the holding company's state would receive the information, Mr. Detlefsen added.

The original NAIC white paper on climate change said regulators should ask insurers about climate risk in their internal risk-assessment process, how they inform and provide incentives for policyholders to deal with climate risk, how insurer boards are informed on climate risk, and what steps carriers are taking to mitigate their own and policyholders' climate risks.

Insurers said requiring filings forcing them to make statements and hazard guesses would be an invitation for lawsuits.

Andrew Melnyk, ACLI's managing director of research, said that removal of the survey from the annual statement filing was a positive development. Other positives include the fact that there is not a requirement for quantitative information and that the document is forward looking.

One change that insurers agreed to, he said, is that the eight questions insurers answer will be public. Previously, insurers would have been required to answer nine questions, three of which would have been public.

Mr. Melnyk said ACLI had contended that climate change really did not affect life insurers but said regulators had countered that it could impact life insurers' investments and could affect mortality if there were extreme climate changes.

David Kodama, director of policy analysis for PCI, noted in a statement that the task force would not be taking action on the latest climate data proposal until after a comment period and the interim meeting/teleconference call of the Climate Risk Disclosure Working Group.

“Though the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) still questions the general regulatory relevance of such disclosure requirements, in terms of insurer solvency and consumer protection, we do acknowledge the positive revisions to the latest draft.

“The proposed disclosure via a state-conducted survey, rather than through a supplement to the annual statement filing, addresses a critical element of PCI's adamant opposition to prior versions,” he said.